While I'm not a big fan of packing up everything you own, moving it into a new place and then unpacking again, it does tend have its little rewards. Like rediscovering items you forgot you even possessed. In this case, that item is Joe Henderson's incredible 1979 album, "Relaxin' at Camarillo". I had purchased this record back in high school while going through my "must own everything Tony Williams ever played on" phase and somehow managed to lose track of it after 10 years of continuous movi...
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Apparently I drank something over the 4th of July weekend that inspired me to play nothing but jazz grooves from the late 50's. Every time I sit down at the kit, all I want to do is put on my trashy, old ride cymbal and pretend I'm Elvin Jones or Art Blakey. Who knew Colt 45 would have that effect?
Speaking of Art Blakey, today I wanted to talk about one of the grooves he's best known for: The mambo. I first learned how to play this groove after hearing Art lay it down on his 1957 classic,...
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Well, I promised nothing but jazz this week and I'm staying true to my word. As much as I wanted to record some glam-rock, power ballad beats (trust me, they're coming), I resisted the temptation and stayed focused on the "classic" stuff.
Loop #63
[caption id="attachment_2583" align="alignleft" width="201" caption="Max Roach"][/caption]
Like yesterday's groove, today's loop is another eight bar phrase, but at a brisker tempo and played with brushes. Stylistically, it's a mix of all of...
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[caption id="attachment_263" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="One of my RSS subscribers"][/caption]
I've been getting hounded with emails from ryangruss.com subscriber, Bobby Lee, (above pic) asking me to post some "real music". Apparently jazz/fusion isn't his cup of tea... or errr, can of Old Milwaukee. Anyway, I traced Bobby's IP address and discovered he lives in Varner, Arkansas. I aim to please, so here's a beat found in many of the songs of another Arkansas native, Johnny Cas...
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